In a crackdown on the criminals, the SIT in Uttar Pradesh has arrested two ‘farmers’ for the brutal lynching of two BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh. The lynching incidence had taken place on 3rd October 2021. SIT has informed that two farmers namely Kamaljeet Singh (age 29) and Kanwaljeet Singh Sonu (age 35) are arrested from Lakhimpur Kheri. The crime was recorded in response to the complaint filed by Sumit Jayswal who is co-accused with Ashish Mishra – son of Minister Ajay Mishra – in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.
As per the latest reports, another ‘farmer’ named Gurpreet Singh (22) has also been arrested by the SIT in the lynching case.
On 3rd October 2021, a vehicle from a BJP convoy had run over some protesting farmers as they blocked and pelted stones on it. Following the incident, the occupants of the vehicle were dragged and beaten to death by the farmers. The SIT has taken this action about the cases registered about the same incidence.
The SIT had earlier published some pictures of the suspects including the persons arrested today. It is reported that they were hiding from the police for nearly 3 months. They will be produced before a magistrate where the investigation officer will seek their remand custody for further interrogation.
This raises the total number of arrests for the lynching of BJP workers to seven. Those arrested earlier by SIT include Vichitra Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Avtaar Singh, and Ranjeet Singh. All of them were first identified as suspects and then subsequently arrested.
The vehicle that was a part of the BJP convoy and had allegedly run over the protesting farmers was stopped by the protesting farmers and the occupants were brutally beaten up. The occupants of the vehicles were brutally lynched to death and the vehicles were torched by the farmers during the violence. Videos of the incident had gone viral on social media. The deceased BJP workers were Shubham Mishra, Hariom Mishra and Shyam Sunder Nishad.
BJP worker Sumit Jaiswal, who is a co-accused along with Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, in connection with the deaths of four farmers and a journalist during the violence, had filed an FIR after which charges of murder and rioting was initially pressed against ‘unidentified farmers’. In November 2021, the apex court had reconstituted the SIT and added new members, IPS officers S.B. Shiradkar, Preetinder Singh, and Padmaja Chauhan, along with retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, Rakesh Kumar Jain, to probe the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.